Film Exhibits

Movie camera - it was huge!

Old large format camera, probably similar to what Ansel Adams used.

1949 Motorola Golden View Television set.

Lincoln County Museum North Platte Nebraska

We stopped in the Lincoln County Museum that features the North Platte Canteen from World War II. The museum had a lot of artifacts, historic exhibits ranging from the Indians to WWII.

Amazing collection of arrowheads. These were four of about 20 cases of arrowheads.

In Barney and Andy's day this is what Mabel used to switch telephone calls.

Lunch in North Platte

The truck awaits its food while we are in Pizza Hut.

It is FLAT here, it is windy, and there are no trees. The wind is 15 knots
gusting to 25 knots. Sky is blue bird clear, I guess we are on the
backside of a front which makes for tough driving on the plains.

Halfway

Halfway to Portland, OR.

A couple of scenes from Nebraska

Nebraska

It is a beautiful sunny day here in ?ebraskam 73 with lightpuffy clouds on
a blue sky.

Speed limit here is 75 but with a 10 knot headwind it is tough to tkae
advantage.

The farms here are incredible, both in size and beauty.

Nebraska

Toto we are not in Kansas.

Windmill blades

Windmills look larger on the back of a truck.

Welcome to Iowa

Short and sweet. Only there 15 minutes.

Basketball anyone

A basketball goal on top of a pole.

Large orange juice

My kind of orange juice - 32 oz.

Duck

Not sure why but there is a huge mallard on a stick in the parking lot.

Its all over

But it was indeed a good nights rest.

So you are wondering where we parked, right? The motel parking was full so
we parked at McDonalds behind the motel. I suppose it is intuitively
obvious where we are eating breakfast.

Photo of the fueled up truck eager to go.

On the hook

Stopped for the night in Mound City, Missouri. They have a main street, a
Super 8, and a McDonalds. I'll leave to you to decide where we are
staying. Guess where we are parked though???

Kansas

Sailed throigh Kansas City. Traffic was thick for 10pm but not horrible.

There was a huge Bass Pro shops. Aren't they or Cabela's headquartered
here?

Attached is a photo of what looked like the baseball stadium, it was huge.

Traffic lightened after the city. Clear, dry, and 72m

Who put all the bugs in Missouri? The windshield is covered!

St. Louis

Slums, lots of slums. Lots of vacant buildings and graffiti. Only thing
neat was the arch. No time to stop and look for the Eurasian Tree Sparrow,
will have to look for him on the way back.

The world is flat

Farms and countryside.

Pigged out at Cracker Barrel, fed the truck and we are driving again. Sunny and 80.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel outside of St Louis. Hopefully can miss the traffic this way.

Illinois

We are now in Illinois and it is sunny and 80 degrees. Somewhere along the way we changed time zones and it is only 3:50. Going to stop for lunch/dinner here before too long. We are about 100 miles from St. Louis.

Just left Indiana and driving through Illinois.

Photos of Kentucky

Processing Plant in Kentucky

Welcome to Kentucky!

Lots of farms in Kentucky.

There were tons of huge horse farms throughout the countryside. This part of the country is very beautiful.

This is a picture of the Ohio river that runs through Louisville.

Riverboat ride anyone?

Quick stop for petrol. Gas was crazy expensive in WV so we waited for KY. 20 cents cheaper.

New state

Just entered Kentucky. Hope diesel is cheaper.

Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so we slid in a Bob Evans
for breakfast.

Local conversations are interesting. Attractive woman behind us is putting
the infomercial sale on a guy trying to hire him to sell life insurance.

Up

After a noisy night at the Red Roof Inn we are on the road again.

Clean room with a good shower. I was sure the Moen Posi-Temp would give
the the right temperature as I dialed the shower knob counterclockwise.

And we're off.

the end

First, a pic of the capitol building in Charleston, WV. Huge.

I had no idea WV had a city as bit as Charleston. I had no idea that many
people lived in WV period.

Think I could've made it all night but we are going to be driving for 42
hours so take it easy came to mind.

Threw out anchor at the Red Roof Inn at exit 39.

nn

Came through Beckley

West Virginia here we are.

Big walker mountain tunnel

With hills inside no doubt. If ypu are blasting through a mountain it
looks like you could make it flat...

Just passed a truck with cords showimg cords on rear tire. That'l hurt.

No fog. Just rain. Misting now. Who put all these hills here?

New state

On 77, light rain, light traffic. Heading for the foggy area.

We are off

new place

A new and very cool, in more ways than one, spot.

It is near Black Balsam Mountain.

The temperature difference was over 20 degrees cooler than the low country
at Davidson River Campground. Elevation change just shy of 4000'. The
summit of the road is about 5800'. It took about an hour to get back down.

To foggy and windy to hear northern saw whet owls at the top. We did hear
american woodcocks though!

We are back at the campground with a decent temperature of 57 degrees.

another view

At Graveyard Fields on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

tree

Wonder what is up with this tree? It is missing part of its bark.

tired dog

Orion had enough and needed a nap.

pic

to the Blue Ridge Parkway we go

We headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what might be around at
elevation.

On the way up we passed many bikers. 276 wouldn't be an easy hill climb.
Someday when the hip recovers....

Photo taken from the lunch spot. I forget the name of this rock. Oh well.
I had a turkey sandwich. It really hit the spot.

The temperature is much cooler here at almost 5000'. It is also pretty
windy. At Davidson River some trees and flowers are starting to bloom
while up here there are no signs of spring.

walk in the woods

Went out first thing this morning, by 7, in search of birds at Davidson
River Campground. Not much stiring this morning probably due to the dreary
conditions. It rained part of the night and this morning was cool and damp.

Later we looked for birds on the short trail near the Pisgah Ranger
Station. It wasn't a long walk but it was a walk. There were a few birds
out including a blue headed vireo and a black throated green warbler tha
both came to within hand holding range from pishing.

The sun is coming out and warming the air up. It shall be a grand, yet
cool, day.

And then...

It rained more. Gore tex wouldn't stand a chance. Plus lightening Ben
Franklin would enjoy.

car

Been holding this for a couple weeks and it's time to share it. I love
these rides.

This Chevrolet was in Greensboro. What a great shade of orange!

Chips

From last night. It is the coolest. We've had it happen in the southwest
before.

Buy a bag o chips in the low country and carry them to high altitude. The
pressure in the bag is relatively higher causing the bag to blow up.

Try it!

No chips were harmed in this photo.

View

While resting in the rain.

campsite view

At Davidson River Campground.

Afternoon

We went to Walmart and the grocery store in Brevard while it was raining.
Interestingly enough they had bricks of .22 ammo so I bought a couple
thousand rounds. With the current ammo panic it is impossible to find.

Photo of the continued rain.

Friday is a new day

Woke up early, didn't really sleep, and headed out before 8. Found a blue
headed vireo and red breasted nuthatch. Then the rain set in.

It has rained and stormed most of the day. Since the high country
campground was closed we headed for Sunburst only to find the Blue Ridge
Parkway was closed south of 276 presumably due to the cold weather this
week. So...

Down the mountain we go. At the Pisgah Ranger Station we found out the BRP
was now open. Rather than go back up we decided to stay in the low country
at Davidson River Campground.

Why so many campgrounds you ask? We haven't got the knack for hiding the
big Tioga yet.

Still raining. But wait! Now with thunder and lightening.

Campground

So what happened on Thursday night?

We arrived at Pisgah Campground and it was closed! It hasn't opened for
summer yet. I guess it is still cold above 5000'.

So we found a dark corner of the earth and went to sleep.

We'll first I went out lokking, and listening, for northern saw whet owls.
As usual with saw whets I had no luck. Someday...

A clue or two

A photo taken on interstate 40 in North Carolina.

on the road

In the Tioga this time.

James McMurty playing the tunes from the ipod.

Where are we going? Only time will tell.

Reddrum and Speckled Trout as Gamefish in NC

A bill has been introduced in the NC house to make reddrum (redfish) and
speckled trout a gamefish in NC. This will make it illegal to sell
reddrum or speckled trout in NC. Why haven't we heard more about this?
http://www.ncgamefishact.blogspot.com/

It is probably doomed with Marc Basnight in office, however it is worth
a try!

Link to the actual bill.
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=h918&submitButton=Go

Did you know that NC is one of only two states in the US that allows the
sell of reddrum?

where did the Lance go?

Lanceless. Truck camper sold.

Wonder what is going to replace it?

Wait who's truck is that?

And what's going on?

NCAA Tourney

Thanks to technology we are driving on 540 in the Tioga watching the NCAA
Tournament on the laptop LIVE!

Crazy

On the way to Croatan National Forest in the Tioga Ranger

Chevrolet Chalet

Big time

Alcan

This drove the Alaska highway bumper sticker kindof takes some of the bite
out of the rumors, no?

I mean a Honda, come on.